Abstract:
The objective of the present thesis is to verify how apologetics of the comprehension of God was done according to Patristic schools of thought. Ten writings are studied from, in total six writers of Ante-Nicene Patristics. In the introduction, the work’s origin, its structure and motivation, the thesis to be defended and the general and specific objectives are delineated. Chapter 2 defines the term “apologetics” by consulting theological dictionaries and encyclopedias, and analyzes the apologetical praxis in Patristics by accessing four works considered pioneers in their respective areas: Aristides of Athens’ “Apology”, in its ethnographical aspect, Justin Martyr’s “Dialog with Trypho”, as a dialog, Athenagoras of Athens’ “About the Resurrection”, in its anthropological aspect, and the surviving fragments of Hegesippus’ “Memories”. Chapter 3 is dedicated to the study of the apologetics of the comprehension of God according to the Smyrnaean school, recurring to three works by Irenaeus of Lyons: the first and second volumes of the series “Against Heresies” and the “Demonstration of Apostolic Preaching”. Chapter 4 verifies how the apologetics of the comprehension of God was done in the Ante-Nicene Alexandrian school from the three first subsections of Clement of Alexandria’s “Protreptic”. The conclusion attests the veracity of the proposed thesis – this is, that in the Smyrnaean and Ante-Nicene Alexandrian Schools of thought, the apologetics of the comprehension of God was done by critical analysis of all the sacred traditions involved, be it scriptural or otherwise transmitted, within their own traditions of interpretation, be it exegesis or any other interpretation, and considering all liturgies involved as a vehicle of presentation and/or representation of the comprehension of God and mediators of the divinities referred towards humanity. Furthermore, the conclusion compares the findings derived from the investigation of the four works in Chapter 2 with the six works of Chapters 3 and 4, as well as the works of Irenaeus of Lyons and Clement of Alexandria.
